Ticket to Ride

Yesterday was very surreal. It began like any other day, aside from my worry about the DBQ scheduled in history class, and excitement about the Josh Groban concert that night. When I tried to enter the building, the hall aide stopped me and asked to see my ID. I told her I would go to the student office and buy a new one, since my old one was in the pocket of the coat I left in Peoria. The hall aide demanded that I leave my backpack by the door, which I guess is their way of ensuring that people come back when they say they're going to. I was a little disgruntled, but left the pack. When I reached the student office, though, I discovered that I didn't have enough money, and the lady at the desk refused to let me get an ID and pay later. I returned to the front area, saw my backpack sitting to the side, and picked it up, preparing to walk away if no one cared. The hall aides stopped me, though, bellowing after me down the hall. I reluctantly returned to the front area and prepared to buy a temporary ID. The hall aide questioned me as to why I hadn't bought an ID in the office. I said the lady wouldn't let me, a poor choice of wording on my part, as it apparently made her suspicious. She refused to let me buy a temporary ID, claiming that I had too many, which is RIDICULOUS because I had never bought one before! The other hall aide backed her up, insisting that I had bought some before. I started to cry, and she said, "You're the one who cried before!" The hall aides kept insisting that I had bought a temporary ID and cried before, even fabricating a supposed date for this incident, while I kept saying that they must have had me mixed up with someone else. I remember yelling, "It's me! It's my life! I should know! You don't know me!" They were very rude and patronizing, rolling their eyes and sniggering with each other while I tried to protest. One lady informed me that she was going to write me up for arguing with staff, to which I responded, "Oh, so I'm just supposed to submit to punishment for a crime I never committed?" The first hall aide kept saying, "Calm down. Why are you crying?" "Because you're being so rude to me!" I yelled. It felt so horrible, having these people insist that I had done something I hadn't, and acting so...inconvenienced by it, as if I were being a big nuisance. Finally, they decided to give me a temporary ID and let me go to class; the original hall aide walked me there.

The day just got crazier as Emily presented me with her entire Joni Mitchell CD collection, for no apparent reason, or at least no reason that she fully explained to me. I'm not complaining, though; I've been enjoying listening to some of the CDs. I'd gotten Joni Mitchell Hits from the library a while ago, and enjoyed it, so it was nice to hear some good songs again, like "Urge for Going" and "River." Whenever I'm having a bad day, the song "River" floats through my head: "I wish I had a river I could skate away on." Ellen also gave me a CD, the Maroon 5 one she's been promising to burn (or toast?) me for a long time. I felt bad for pestering her about it, but now I'm glad to have it.

That night, of course, came the Josh Groban concert. I don't want to say it was antithetical; in fact, it surpassed my expectations. I just feel like I didn't enjoy it fully, maybe because of being tired. It was, though, in a word, amazing. He opened with "Oceano," a beautiful song, and the one I'd been hoping he would start with, and played a set including such favorites as "To Where You Are," "Canto Alla Vita," "Vincent," "Per Te," "Remember When It Rained," and "You Raise Me Up." Every few songs, he would stop and chat with the crowd, proving himself to be a cute, goofy guy. People would yell, "I love you!" to which he would respond, "I love you, too." He got in some sly quips, too, as when he said, "I hope to come back to Rockford many more times. I mean, Cher's been here, what, three or four times on her farewell tour?" There were some crazy people there. Some girls kept asking him to go to prom with them. Several people brought stuffed animals up to the stage, and some girls gave him a thong. A lot of people screamed and yelled constantly. The best part, though, was at the end, when he came back out to do an encore. During the show, he had been accompanied by a string ensemble, percussionists, backup vocalists, and a pianist, but for the encore song he just sat down at the piano and played and sang by himself: Simon and Garfunkel's "America." It was beautiful. I love Josh Groban's music, but it was so unexpected and so wonderful to hear him play something like that, a song I've always loved in a different context.

The only bad thing about last night's concert was that it made me tired all day today and limited my studying time for a calc test today. This morning I had to get up early and finish a history paper before heading to school for a QB honorary breakfast. It was nicely done; the library was decorated and everything, the superintendent was there and all, but none of us really wanted to be there. I did enjoy seeing Patrick on the news just now, though. He's become a bit of a local celebrity; he appeared on the front page of the paper two days in a row, for the cellphone article and then State QB, and then was interviewed. All they showed him saying was, "Scholastic Bowl is a real sport because you do use muscles and you get pretty tired after a day's tournament." He said it seriously, too, no hint of tongue-in-cheek. I really don't know what he was on about; I'll have to ask him what the context of that was.

Today was the last day of school before spring break, so I'm pretty happy. Granted, I'm not going to Mexico like a lot of people are, or anyplace else outside of Rockford, but I'm glad to stay home and relax...and, at some point (sigh), write my word paper.